Mama Mia!
I asked, “What do you call the slanted font that helps us find information in nonfiction texts?”
Fifth grader: “Italians!”—Kelly M.

Sergeant Dolittle
After talking and reading about veterans, we sat down to write cards to them. One child wrote, “When I grow up I want to be a veteran, too. I love taking care of animals.”—Joan C.

Degree of Humor
On a frigid day, one of my math students told me that if I was cold I could “go stand in the corner.”
“Why?” I asked. “Is it warmer on that side of the room?”
“No, but that corner is 90 degrees!” he said. Gotta love math humor. —Michelle H. R.

Disney Universe
We were studying space in my preschool class of 3- and 4-year-olds. When we started talking about why Pluto isn’t a planet anymore, G. said, “That’s because it’s Mickey Mouse’s dog!” —Jennifer B.

Blocked Messages
During benchmark testing with my kindergartners, I asked a student to “put the hammer below the block.” She looked at me with a blank stare, so I said, with emphasis, “Below the block, sweetheart.” She picked up the block and blew on it. —Alicia F.

An Arm and a Leg
A student, knowing my last name was a body part, but not remembering which, said to me seriously, “Mrs. Legs, I need some help.” My last name is Arms. —A. Arms

Heavy Topic
While teaching density to a group of fourth graders, I asked if anyone knew the meaning of dense. One girl replied, “I don’t know, but my mom calls my dad dense all the time!” —Leah R.

Ancient Aeropostale
One of my students asked, “Isn’t that Aristotle person the one who makes clothes?” —Jamie L.

Lunch of Heroes
While in the lunch line with my first graders, I heard the cafeteria worker repeatedly ask kids if they wanted soup or beans with their sandwich. When I asked what kind of soup they were eating, a boy answered, very seriously, “Super beans!” —Lori F.

Math Is My Friend
I gave my fifth graders a geometry test on angles. The directions said, “Name each angle” (meaning acute, right, obtuse, or straight). One student turned in his paper and the angles were labeled Bob, John, Ted.… —Tara P.